DWF 2015: SUPERIOR



Charlie (Thatcher Robinson) and Derek (Paul Stanko) in Superior.

Spokes in the wheels of history

By Miranda Inganni

Prior to heading off to their respective futures, look-alike best friends Derek (Paul Stanko) and Charlie (Thatcher Robinson) agree to one last adventure: biking around Lake Superior. With little preparation, and fewer supplies, the boys hang on to the handlebars of their youth while riding head on into adulthood.

Setting out from Calumet, Michigan, the boys have two weeks to circumnavigate the massive lake before Charlie heads to Michigan Technological University and Derek enlists in the Army. Neither guy is excited about their chosen path, but both act like it has been preordained and they have no say in the matter (which, at this point, they still do).

Derek, a self-proclaimed loser and the jokester of the duo steers them onto the path of mischief, while practical Charlie pays too much mind to their schedule. But the boys have a balance and it’s clear that they have been playing these roles off each other for their entire lives. The closer they get to their destination, however, each guy acts more and more in his own best self-interest and the anxiety regarding their return causes them to choose their own path in life. Unfortunately, this is where Superior takes a schmaltzy turn to sentimental town.

Based on writer-director-producer Edd Benda’s uncle’s real life adventure (and shot by Benda the younger’s partner Alex Bell), Superior is a coming-of-age story set in 1965. Derek and Charlie meet a number of characters along the way (over the top caricatures, really) who each have an effect on the travelling pair. With the exception of an out of place bonfire scene (are they suddenly at a music festival?), Superior takes the boys on a trip around the lake and into the next phase of their lives.

 

Superior screens at Dances with Films tonight, 9:30 p.m. For more information: Superior.

 

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